Saving The French Language In Quebec, One Word At A Time

We are not bigots; we are not trying to wipe out English as a spoken and written language in Quebec and we want our English population to feel comfortable with remaining in Quebec if we get our sovereignty; these words spoken in any language by Pauline Marois, has been proved to be a load of horse manure this past week with the targeting by the Office de la Langue Française (French Language Office), the use of the word “Pasta” on a menu as being in violation of Quebec’s language laws. Is this what the separatists are so worried about in Quebec? Is this how petty the language issue has become in Quebec? Has the language issue been reduced to what language is used to name food dishes on the menu of an Italian restaurant, or other restaurants specialising in ethnic foods? What does it say about the credibility of the Office de la Langue Française and the struggle for an independent Quebec? Pauline Marois makes political promises of fairness and an equal place for all Quebecers in Quebec, no matter what language we speak, what God we pray to and what color we are and it is all a pack of lies. How could it all not be lies, when the Office de la Langue Francaise has political enforcers of the law who are either are misinterpreting the laws, or are knowingly employing the laws incorrectly trying to make a name for themselves, as Pauline Marois and Louise Marchand have been suggesting? I wonder how many of these special language police in this political entity dedicated to ensuring that these laws are enforced, are guilty of trying force business owners to adhere to this type of incorrect interpretation of the law like in the, “Pasta” incident? For instance as CTV reported, “while the word pasta can remain on the menu what about the restaurant owner forced to remove a decal that read “fish and chips” and replace it with one saying “poisson frit & frites.”?

This language cop did not do the wrong thing according to his job description; this cop did exactly what his job description tells him to do and what he understood that Premiere Pauline Marois suggested in her speech for her followers to do when she declared that too much English was still being spoken on the streets of this province. What did she expect when she called upon her followers to do what it takes to ensure that less English is used in Quebec? When Pauline Marois said that it is an emergency that sovereignty happens now and that her follows press forward and push hard to see that it happens, she threw fuel on a fire already raging out of control in Quebec and has prompted this language Gestapo to think they following the direct order of their leader Pauline Marois and their political party of choice and employer the Parti Québécois. Had this not taken on the kind of interest it did worldwide, pasta and words like it would have been removed from the menus of restaurants, along with all, English and ethnic languages and replaced with French replacements, or suffered financial penalties, in the way of fines and lengthy trials trying to fight this kind of misunderstanding.

The real problem though for Quebec’s Separatist governing party and their leader is that it has been very clear to everyone in Quebec, Canada and the world just how Pauline Marois’s political rhetoric is being interpreted by her followers and the people who work for her and how far they are willing to go to do what they think it is that she wants whether it makes sense or not. The fact that the Pauline Marois and the Parti Québécois are still trying to laugh it off and act like this us an isolated incident shows them up for the incompetent, hypocrites and liars that they really are. Those in government and the average Canadian who for whatever reason used to think that stories like this, “Pasta” story were attention seeking exaggerations by a bunch of cry baby English-speaking minority sore losers trying to stop the poor misunderstood French speaking majority population of Quebec from saving their language from winking out of existence, now know that this story is just one of many acts of senseless, racism that this racist political party has forced the English people of Quebec to endure 24 hours a day, 7 days of the week and 365 days of each year.

For example: The PQ government plans to overhaul Bill 101, Quebec’s French Language Charter. (1) They intend to make Bill 101 applicable to companies with as few as 11 employees. These are the kinds of issues that are costly for business, especially small businesses where every penny counts and the constant outlay of cash for changes in stationary, signage, telephone services at every whim of the separatists are taking a toll on who will survive. People doing business with small companies simply stop doing business in Quebec and that little company who depends on that business dies. (2) They intend to force non-Anglophone students to go to CEGEP in French. (3) They intend to close a legal loophole that allows students who attend private English-language schools to qualify to attend English public schools. This drives French and English students and parents nuts. They resent having their rights and freedoms to choose such things like the rest of Canadians can do outside of this province, just wrong and a direct violation of the rights that they are guaranteed in the Canadian Charter of Rights and wonder if that piece of paper really means anything anymore since the Prime minister Harper himself does not seem to think that what is promised in it is legally binding

While the world laughed at Pauline Marois and her Parti Québécois over her language police finding Italian words on menus in Quebec unacceptable and in violation with the law, no one is, or was laughing it off in Quebec except Pauline Marois and her followers. This type of harassment of business owners just adds to the frustration of all Quebecers and adds to the pressure of a province getting ready to blow its proverbial language cork if something is not done to release the pressure in a tangible meaningful way and I do not mean another pep talk from our premiere, whose credibility rating on the whole sovereignty issue is at zero.

Louise Marchand gave an interview claiming that it was all just a misunderstanding, created by an over-zealous employee and that all damage has been repaired, but I do not think so, because it is still going on and allowing a few Italian words to be exempt from the law is not solving anything, in fact it just complicates matters. and has all but said that going after restaurants was not her brightest move to date. The fact that Louise Marchand still remains at her job means Marois was embarrassed at all the unwanted attention, but thinks it was a good try in my opinion and that Marois and her political party do not take what is going on very seriously. With this Pasta thing Pauline Marois can no longer deny or hide the fact that she has in her employ a group of young separatist language police that are running around Quebec and harassing non Francophone business owners to alter things like signs and wording on menus in an over zealous fashion trying to make names for themselves. I thought that coverage of this in the media unfortunately stopped short of telling Quebecers and the world just who these young overzealous language cops are trying to impress with their actions. So once again an employee following orders take the heat for something that this government of Quebec secretly condones and encourages its employees and followers to do.

It is words like these spoken by Pauline Marois that are responsible for the over zealous language police and the violent French who are attacking English-speaking people on the street people. What did she expect to happen when she called her followers to action with words like, ‘We are on the offensive:’ Pauline Marois claims Quebec sovereignty is an ‘emergency’.

Finally, a video of a drunken francophone Montrealer harassing a couple of young Asian tourists for not speaking French has been picked up and published on the Liveleek website, that has a very large audience? The video when first released on YouTube, it received about ten thousand views in five months, while one week on Liveleek produced over 75,000 views. If you were a non-French speaking tourist, would you want to spend your vacation here? Add to that the fact that you will be unable to ask for directions, or even the time of day from any of the rapid transit employees such as metro ticket booth personnel, bus drivers and that all directional signage if traveling by car is in French only, would you still come? This is the reality it Quebec right now and these employees are acting within the law says the Quebec government. It as though the Marois’s of Quebec think that if they somehow make Quebec an economical wasteland as Jacque Parizeau said, then only the true separatist will want to remain in Quebec making it easier to get the votes they need to separate from the rest of Canada. These crazy people are also convinced that when everybody else but the separatists are left in Quebec and the ethnocide is complete, that they will somehow mysteriously and miraculously be able to rebuild out of the remains of what they have demolished, a new vibrant economy for the new country of Quebec, by saving the French language in Quebec, one word at a time.